And mission control doesn't seem in all that big a rush to drop the puck.

So instead of calling goals and assists for Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night, play-by-play man Jim Hughson is left to score points on the home front, tackling some major renovation work at the lake.

"I hope they get a deal done, I'm tired of being a construction guy," said Hughson, who's killing the time by building a guest cabin next to his own. "I started it in late August when it really started to look like I wasn't going back to work right away."

By the time the lockout finally ends (which might be never at the rate they're going), he could build his own high-rise and amusement park.

Or not. Let's just say he's more comfortable around a mic than a mitre saw.

"I haven't lost any fingers yet, but I do know that I'm not cut out for construction work," he said with a chuckle. "Level and square are not really parts of my vernacular. I'm not very good with a hammer and I'm not very good with a saw because I'm afraid of them, so ..."

So the amusement park will have to wait. Unfortunately, so will hockey, which disturbs the CBC veteran greatly. He has watched the NHL crawl from insignificance to a legitimate following in the U.S. and worries, like many, that all of the progress is in jeopardy.

"I've been around the NHL for a long time, for the better part of 30 years," he said. "And what really disappoints me is that in reaching the pinnacle this past spring with Los Angeles winning the Stanley Cup, the sport I work on is finally making some real inroads in some real tough markets; the league is on the cusp of something really good, and to see it shut down by a lockout is so anti-productive.

"A lockout, taking away your product, is such a counter-productive way of dealing with any sort of labour dispute. In places like Phoenix and Columbus, Florida and Los Angeles, all the places we've watched struggle to find an identity, I think you need to play and be present.

"Even if at the end of the lockout you gain financially because you get a better deal, I think the lockout outweighs that because of what it does negatively for your business.

"This whole business of locking out constantly is really bothersome to me because I don't think it works."

So instead of sitting in a broadcast booth in any one of 30 NHL cities or watching countless hours of hockey to prepare himself for the broadcasts, all Hughson can do is curse the down time and take his frustration out on those nails.

"I miss everything about it," said Hughson, who, like the players, is not being paid during the work stoppage. "I love being in different cities all the time, I love the people I work with and I love the preparation for the games. I spend weeks watching hundreds of hockey games, trying to figure out what everybody in the league is up to.

"The research is a huge part of it for me and it takes a lot of time, so that's a lot of time I have on my hands right now and I'm not very good at the creative use of it."

The amount of spare time he might actually have truly scares him.

"I always had it in the back of my mind that this wouldn't last the whole winter like last time (2004-05)," he said. "Like so many people I have sat in disbelief that they would do it again, and lose a whole season."